Hydrometeorological Hazards: Monitoring, Forecasting, Risk Assessment, and Socioeconomic Responses

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2016 · Advances in Meteorology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/2367939· OSTI ID:1340875

Wu, Huan ^[1]; Huang, Maoyi ^[2]; Tang, Qiuhong ^[3]; Kirschbaum, Dalia B. ^[4]; Ward, Philip ^[5]

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1. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
3. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
4. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
5. Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hydrometeorological hazards are caused by extreme meteorological and climate events, such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, or landslides. They account for a dominant fraction of natural hazards and occur in all regions of the world, although the frequency and intensity of certain hazards, and society’s vulnerability to them, differs between regions. Severe storms, strong winds, floods and droughts develop at different spatial and temporal scales, but all can become disasters that cause significant infrastructure damage and claim hundreds of thousands of lives annually worldwide. Oftentimes, multiple hazards can occur simultaneously or trigger cascading impacts from one extreme weather event. For example, in addition to causing injuries, deaths and material damage, a tropical storm can also result in flooding and mudslides, which can disrupt water purification and sewage disposal systems, cause overflow of toxic wastes, and increase propagation of mosquito-borne diseases.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1340875
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-119933; KP1703030
• Journal Information: Advances in Meteorology, Journal Name: Advances in Meteorology Vol. 2016; ISSN 1687-9309
• Publisher: Hindawi
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English